A British builder has launched a project with an aim to get the UK construction industry to reduce its use of plastic to zero by 2040. The sector currently generates 50,000 tons of plastic waste annually, but Neal Maxwell – who founded non-profit company Changing Streams after witnessing the extent of plastic pollution during a trip to the Arctic (pictured) – believes it is realistic to cut this to nothing within two decades.
The organisation, with researchers from the University of Liverpool, has devised a programme of change for the industry that they hope will be made legally binding. It includes not using products, such as paint, that contain plastic; issuing a guide showing how houses can be made without plastic; and no longer using plastic to package building materials.
Britain’s construction sector is the second-largest producer of plastic waste in the country, beaten only by the packaging sector.
For its part, the University of Liverpool is leading by example by pledging to construct plastic-free student accommodation as part of a rebuild of its campus.
Maxwell said: “What did we do before [plastic] was ubiquitous? Pre-plastic, we built houses, factories, offices and buildings without it. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. There are alternatives we have used before and new ones we can invent. Shouldn’t we treat plastic as the new asbestos?”
further reading…
A British builder has launched a project with an aim to get the UK construction industry to reduce its use of plastic to zero by 2040. The sector currently generates 50,000 tons of plastic waste annually, but Neal Maxwell – who founded non-profit company Changing Streams after witnessing the extent of plastic pollution during a trip to the Arctic (pictured) – believes it is realistic to cut this to nothing within two decades.
The organisation, with researchers from the University of Liverpool, has devised a programme of change for the industry that they hope will be made legally binding. It includes not using products, such as paint, that contain plastic; issuing a guide showing how houses can be made without plastic; and no longer using plastic to package building materials.
Britain’s construction sector is the second-largest producer of plastic waste in the country, beaten only by the packaging sector.
For its part, the University of Liverpool is leading by example by pledging to construct plastic-free student accommodation as part of a rebuild of its campus.
Maxwell said: “What did we do before [plastic] was ubiquitous? Pre-plastic, we built houses, factories, offices and buildings without it. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. There are alternatives we have used before and new ones we can invent. Shouldn’t we treat plastic as the new asbestos?”